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2.0 GENERIC MICROSOFT DYNAMICS® CRM 2011 FUNCTIONS
There are a number of generic items which appear in the left hand menu of most IPM documents and will be referred to throughout this manual. These items are generic Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 functions that have been included in IPM and are Activities, History, Workflows, Send To, Service Calendar and Email Tracking.
This section will provide you with an overview of each of the items and the functionality they provide within IPM. Should you require further information on their functionality in other settings, please refer to your Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 documentation.
2.1 Activities
The activities item allows you to create records of certain activities pertaining to the particular document, such as phone calls, emails or appointments. If IPM is integrated with Outlook, you can also use the Activities function to create reminders for events, such as appointments and tasks, both for you and other IPM Users. The Activities section is also where unsent emails and copies of emails using the tracking system are saved.
2.2 Closed Activities
The Closed Activities item allows you to view all the Activities that have taken place regarding the particular document, such as emails and phone calls. Once an email is sent, regardless as to whether it was initially created through the Activities section or not, it is shown here. This is also where Activities are stored once they have been closed.
2.3 Workflows
Workflows are used throughout IPM to enable automatic changes to documents to occur once a certain feature on a document is updated or changed. The most common area that workflows are used in IPM is in synchronising documents with your accounting program. Workflows of this nature are commonly added to the following documents in IPM by your IPM consultant:
- Subcontracts
- Subcontract Change Orders
- Purchase Orders
- Progress Claims
To set off the synchronisation workflow to enable a document to be synchronised to your accounting software, the following must occur:
1. The Release to Accounting box on the main form of the document must be checked (with the exception of Progress Claims)
2. The Status on the main form of the document must be changed to Approved
3. If the user who changes the status has a high enough security role, this will automatically set off the workflow which will finalize the document, making it unable to be edited
4. If the user who changes the status does not have a high enough security role, the status will change to pending and a workflow will be triggered to send an email to the project manager (or other nominated person in the workflow) asking them to approve and finalize the document
5. Once the document has been finalized and, if applicable, the Release to Accounting box checked, the document will be automatically synced across to your accounting software.
Note: This workflow can be customized by your IPM consultant to suit your individual needs, for example you may wish to manually run the workflow to finalize the document, rather than have it run automatically.
Workflows can also be added to other areas of IPM according to your needs. Please consult your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011® documentation for further information on how to create workflows.
2.4 Send To
The Send To section is also called Forward Answer and Send Request in some documents, depending on the nature of the document. This section enables you to add all the contacts you wish to send a particular document to, and then when an email is generated from that document the contact is automatically added as a recipient of the email. Through this section you can also set the recipient type of the contact to Primary, CC or BCC.
2.5 Audit History
Audit History gives you a record of changes made to a particular document, including the date the changes were made, who they were made by and the particular information that was changed.
2.6 Dashboards
Dashboards enable you to get at-a-glance information on different areas of your project. They are available in the Contract Control section to view information about your project in many different forms, from charts to lists and tables. These can be customised according to the specific information you require. For information on customising your dashboards, please consult your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011® documentation.
2.7 Service Calendar
The Service Calendar is a CRM function that has been adapted by IPM to enable you to create a new IPM Job for each Service Activity that is entered into the Service Calendar. You can then also indicate any Service Parts Required and IPM will automatically calculate any Service Costs associated with the Service Activity.
2.7.1 To Create a New Service Activity:
1. In the drop down navigation menu, click Service > Service Calendar
2. Click New > Service Activity
3. This will bring up the New Service Activity box
Note: The Form Assistant should be open on the right, or if not, it can be expanded by clicking . You can use the Form Assistant to select data instead of using . Each time you click in a different field, the Form Assistant will update with a list of options available to select in that field.
4. Enter a Subject for your activity
5. If necessary, you can assign your activity to a Department by clicking on and selecting from the list
6. To create a new Job specifically for the Service Activity once it is saved, select Create IPM Job from the drop down list in the Post-Create Action field. If you are creating the Service Activity for an existing IPM Job, select None from the drop down list.
7. Enter the Bill to Customer by clicking and selecting from the list
8. Once you enter the Bill to Customer, the Contact field will become available and you can add the main contact for the Bill to Customer by clicking . This will only bring up a list of the contacts who are added to the Customer’s Account file.
Note: If you are creating the Service Activity for an existing job, you can leave the Bill to Customer and Contact fields blank as these will automatically fill when you enter the Job Name
9. Click on in the Service field to bring up a list of Services that have been added in the Services section of CRM
10. Select the Service and click OK
11. If applicable, enter a Site for the activity by clicking and selecting from the list
12. Next, you can assign the Service Activity to one or more Resources by clicking and searching for the Resources in your list of CRM Users. Once you have selected the Resource in the left hand box, click to move it into the Selected Records box on the right, then click OK
13. If Necessary, you can enter a Location
14. Specify the status of the Service Activity, by selecting from the drop down list in the Show Time As box
15. If you are creating the Service Activity for an existing Job, you can add the Job name by clicking and selecting from the list. If the Service Activity is for a new Job, leave this field blank
Note: Once you select the Job, the Bill to Customer and Contact will automatically update
16. Next, you can enter scheduling information by selecting the Start Time from the calendar. The End Time will automatically update according to the duration selected
17. Select the Duration from the drop down list, or check All Day Event if applicable
18. Finally, add any necessary Notes to your Service Activity
19. Once you have added all the relevant information, click Save
20. If you selected Create New IPM Job in the Post-Create Action field, a new Job will be automatically created in the Jobs section of IPM (see Chapter 4, 1.0 for more information), according to the information entered in the Service Activity. If the Service Activity was created for an existing Job, it will now appear in the Service Activity section of that Job.
To Add Service Parts Required
Once you Save the Service Activity, a Service Parts Required tab will appear. If you have any information in the Original Budget tab of the Job, this will also appear in the Service Parts Required tab and you can edit it according to what is required for the Service Activity. If you do not have any information in the Original Budget tab of the Job yet, you can add the Service Parts Required directly into this tab:
1. Click on the Service Parts Required tab
2. You can either import data from an Excel® Spreadsheet using the Import/Export Tool (see Chapter 2, 4.1 for more information) or you can add data manually by clicking on at the bottom of the grid for each new row
3. Enter the information you require in each cell either by typing it in, or selecting from the drop down list
4. To enter product information, you can choose from a list of products in CRM by searching for the product in the Product Search String column, then selecting the product from the drop down list that appears in the Product Search Results column
To View Service Costs
The Service Costs tab will automatically update according to information added to other areas of IPM, such as the Timesheets section (See Chapter 6, 1.0). You cannot add any information here. To view the Service Costs, simply click on the Service Costs tab.
Once you have finished adding and viewing all the information to your Service Activity, click Save and Close
2.8 Email Tracking
IPM contains the email tracking tool, which can automatically file incoming and outgoing emails related to a particular document or Job according to a code added to the email’s subject line. Once you turn on the tracking feature, all outgoing emails you send will have a code unique to the document or Job added to the subject line. IPM then uses this code to file a copy of your outgoing email in the activities section of that document for easy retrieval later. When your contacts reply to the email, provided the code is still in the subject line, a copy of the incoming email will also be filed in the activities section of the document.
2.9 Displaying Organisation Name on Reports
When generating reports in IPM, you have the option of displaying the name and address for your organisation in the top left hand corner for all reports. To do this, you need to add your organisation’s address to the CRM Business Units function.
1. In the left hand navigation menu, click on Settings > Administration
2. Click on Business Units
3. Open the file for the root Business Unit for your organisation (you may have multiple business units for your organisation)
4. In the Business Unit file, click on the Addresses tab
5. Enter the Bill To Address details for your organisation
6. Click Save and Close
7. All reports generated for IPM will now display this Organisation Name and Address in the top left hand corner.
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